Busses are used to transmit data between various components in a computer or other device. For example, busses may be used to transmit data between a central processing unit, chipsets, memory, and peripheral components. Data transmission along busses occurs over discrete periods of time that are allocated for use by the components connected to the bus.
Typically, a pin is associated with each data line of a bus. Thus, as the width of busses increases, the number of pins needed by a component to be connected to a bus increases. Large numbers of pins hinder miniaturization of the components connected to the bus. Moreover, as the number of components connected to a bus increases, the timing and allocation of transmissions along the bus becomes increasingly complex and may ultimately slow down the operational speed of the device.
Like reference symbols in the drawings indicate like elements.